PIANO AND ORGAN PRACTICE IDEAS FOR THE HANDS
In the next few weeks many of us will be practicing some of the demanding repertoire for Christmas liturgies and programs and recital preparation. I would like to share a couple of ideas with you about ways to practice that ensure healthy hands, arms and wrists. I have had many problems in recent years and have adopted some strategies that are working.
Of course we were all taught technical exercises somewhere along our journey. I would like to share that is these exercises that have been life savers to me in keeping my hands injury-free during seasons of intense practicing. My rule of thumb for students and my personal practice is that for any given practice period I allot 20% of the time on technique for a good warmup. We are often so intent on learning our repertoire that it’s easy to neglect the slow warm-up to stretch the hands. My beloved Boston University piano teachers Dr. Alfred Kanwischer and Maria Clodes both revamped the technique I had to include much greater awareness and use of the wrist. My go-to technical exercises are in Isidore Philipp Complete School of Technic for the Piano (Theodore Presser). These exercises can be done with slow attention to the wrist. They make your hands feel great! In days when I suffer from soreness I refer to the helpful 2003 What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body: A manual for players of keyboard instruments by Thomas Mark with Supplemental Material for Organists by Thomas Mark and Roberta Gray. [GIA Publications VHS-566] Beautiful illustrations and descriptions of how the body works when we play are so helpful in assessing problems that may arise in our practice.
Of all the ideas that have helped me, my high school piano teacher’s comment:
”running water never freezes, a moving wrist never seizes,” (Mildred Henry Crane) has been a simple way to remember to keep motion in the wrist at all times. There are 4 types of motion your wrists can do:
- Circular rotation LH Clockwise and RH Counterclockwise
- Up and down motion with fingers sustaining notes
- Up and down wrist staccato
- “Door knob” type of rotation side to side
For the organists who are reading this, we can’t always get to the organ at church every day, but hopefully you can at least do a few gentle warm-ups on the piano at home several times a week to keep our hands and arms warmed up and ready. We need to realize what a precious gift our technique is and constantly be working on it apart from repertoire to keep in shape. When I push too hard and go past 2 hours and find soreness, I have some great ice wraps that I use 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off right away to prevent any damage.
Keep those wrists and hands relaxed and healthy! Practice is such a rewarding use of our time and stimulates the mind, body and soul.
-Barbara A. Masters